Compile time vs Run time Dependency - Java

Question

What is the difference between compile time and run time dependencies in Java? It is related to class path, but how do they differ?

Answer 1

An easy example is to look at an api like the servlet api. To make your servlets compile, you need the servlet-api.jar, but at runtime the servlet container provides a servlet api implementation so you do not need to add servlet-api.jar to your runtime class path.